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Hi Ellen!

You may have heard that the military is concerned about “making our numbers” this recruiting year. We are in competition with other employers for a narrowing pool of physically and mentally fit talent. Instead of grousing about it, we’re just being more innovative.

For example, this little pink Sailor sweater (a crackerjack sweater to be specific) is for the soon to be born daughter of Melinda, one of the Navy women with whom I work. Her husband is in the Navy too. So you see, if we can’t recruit them, at least we can reproduce them! We’ll make sure their paychecks get a bit of a bonus if she signs on beyond toddlerhood.

I’m actually pretty pleased with the results of this effort. The base pattern is by Catherine Shields and is called the Brendan Sweater. I found it on etsy. I wasn’t entirely happy with the original neckline, so I modified it a bit and I added the neckerchief detail to make it look more authentic. Even Allen admitted it was pretty cute. Oh, and look at that mattress stitching! I think I finally got the hang of it. My first effort at intarsia as well. It was a fun and fast knit…and gives me something to show at show and tell at guild next week. I still have to deal with the sizing problem on the adult sweater I pieced last week and I don’t think I’ll have gotten to it by Monday.

Love, Jan

pie \pah ee\ vb 1: to partake of pie 2: to serve pie 3: to consume pie while in a festive group adj - to please

Hi, Jan,

Yes, it was fun timing to have you join the feast at Becky & Mike’s for a few minutes.

We had a lovely time. There is something about being with someone who has known you over 40 years and still appreciates you and wants to find out more about you that is wonderful. And hearing your childhood stories affirmed, and affirming theirs. In case there happens to be a reader of this blog who doesn’t know our background, Becky lived 5 houses down the street from us and it was a generous gesture of the universe that led us both to Minneapolis.

The turkey was rich - cherry glazed with hazelnuts in the stuffing. Mike carved with the confidence of a surgeon (though his usual subjects, ears and throats, are much smaller) and we ate and laughed and played the traditional after-dinner board game.

Here is your daily brassica.

And the full moon, shining over Ridgedale Mall where we managed to escape most of the shopping craziness, buying just some fuses to prove that our old TV really is dead. Makes it even prettier. I hope your ma 0′ the bride dress shopping went well, though. Does the auntie o’ the bride need anything special?

And finally, I reveal the holiday gift, because I am pretty sure that the person receiving this doesn’t know about our blog and I am so happy to have something done that fits that I needed to post it. It’s Kat Coyle’s Nomad Hat and Scarf, from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. The yarn is Pronto. I found knitting with this very full bodied yarn to be a little tiring on my hands, but I’m happy with the result.

Love to everyone, including Ruby and Max.

Ellen

Dear Jan,

Among the things I’m thankful for this year is the creation of this blog with you. It’s made me more present in my day, wondering what could I post that would be remotely interesting to you, let alone to anyone else who reads the blog. It’s given me a chance to share my life with you and with our extended family and friends. I know how much I appreciate peeking into Karen’s life reading her blog, and I hope our drivel gives others that same chance. Thanks for being the catalyst that made this happen.

One little slice of today to share (and coming from me, no one is going to be surprised at the theme) - feast items! Aren’t Brussels sprouts marvels of construction? And talk about beautiful - shades from palest green to almost burgundy, perfectly blended. Perhaps I need to dye some yarn in this colorway. At the very least, it would be amusing to knit with a yarn that I can refer to as Brussels sprouts. I’m roasting these, seasoned with cumin and garlic and cayenne. This recipe converted Wilson from a Brussels sprout hater to a Brussels sprout anticipator.

And squash are so great. Look at those curves. Makes me feel better about some of mine (though I don’t look so good in orange).

And saving the best for last - pie! With all that fruit, it’s a breakfast food, you know. These are pumpkin (obviously) and tart cherry, with cherries off our own tree. It is a genetic dwarf, self-fertile variety ‘North Star’. It was bred at the U of Minnesota and I picked and pitted these last June.

We’ll spend the day with Becky, Michael, Claire and Max, dear friends who are truly family to us, missing Karen and Jenny (it definitely feels odd to do this day without them), and thinking of the rest of the family.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Ellen

Dale, Allen and I went to see the “World Famous” Lipizzaner Stallions today. We had a good time. I didn’t realize when I bought the tickets that we were actually going to a “knock off” of the Royal Lipizzaners trained at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. I did realize that I hadn’t paid nearly enough for the tickets, so hadn’t expected these to be the first string. So, good thing my expectations weren’t as high as they might have been.

Don’t get me wrong. The horses were very impressive and the riders were excellent — but they were impressive/excellent at the “B” List grading criteria. Since I wasn’t expecting “A” List, I wasn’t disappointed. We had a fine time and you can see that the horses were, indeed, very pretty. Allen and Dale were good sports and found nice things to say. Allen even was willing to take the photo of me knitting during intermission to allow me to make this post have at least a connection to knitting.

Ever since seeing the Spanish Riding School horses on “Sixty Minutes” when I was maybe 10 (?) I’ve wanted to be dazzled by these stallions. That desire was sharpened when I came within 25 Kilometers of the original stud farm in Lipica…and was unable to convince the air wing guys (with whom I was on liberty) that visiting horses would be a better way to spend our time off the ship than drinking in Postonja. Go figure. Today wasn’t dazzling, but it did buy off the desire for a while. If I ever end up in Slovenia again though, we’re making the trip to Lipica!

We are definitely becoming quite the mini family. Todayour son Allen picked up his new 1973 Innocenti Mini. It is incredibly cute. He’s 6′2″ tall, so it’s kind of amazing that he fits in it so well — it’s even smaller than my 2003 Mini Cooper S. It may be smaller, but despite its diminutive size, it has already created a big surge of Mini mania on his part. We’re pretty pleased he chose to go this route over the types of cars that many of his friends have gone for…and it will make for much easier Christmas shopping!